Special Cards for Special People

Materials You Need: Paper (plain or coloured), pencils, crayons, or markers; any other materials that you might have, that could be used to decorate a card (pieces of coloured yarn to stick on, stickers, magazine pictures, etc.)

What You Can Do Together: Making a card for a family member or other special person is an activity that encourages your child to begin to write a few letters of the alphabet or draw something simple.  This activity might occur because a neighbour has been sick.  “Let’s make a card to tell Mrs. Jones that we hope she feels better soon!”  Find a place to work together.  You can start off by asking your child “What do you think we should say?”  If your child has an idea, write it down on the card.  Then you could ask your child to write something, too.  At this age, it may be just a few letters or perhaps part of your child’s name.  You might print her or his name and suggest that your child copy it, or even one letter of the name.  Whatever the result is, praise it: “This will make Mrs. Jones very happy.  She will see what you wrote!  Would you like to draw a picture for her?”  Adapt this to your child’s level of skill and interest.  Make simple cards often enough that it becomes a routine activity (you might make a card to surprise your child, also!). 

Shopping lists that you make together may be another way to encourage your beginning writer—you can write down an item and ask her or him if your child wants to write that word or write something else.

What Your Child is Learning:  This is one of many activities that can help your child begin to learn how to write.  Your child is seeing that there is a purpose for writing and that it can give pleasure to others and be an enjoyable activity.  And of course, this activity encourages your child’s creativity, as you think together of how to decorate the card in a beautiful way.